life on mission

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I thought I'd share something I was encouraged by last night. I attended an event at church to run the technical side of it, but I left feeling so encouraged. A branch of our women's ministry at church is called Women on Mission and while it's always been mainly older women who participate in this, we're trying to make it church wide for women of all ages, from eighteen on. This event was the kick off event for the next year of ministry. Seeing these ladies here is the sweetest thing to me. 

These are women who are older, as you see, yet they never stop serving God through active ministry. These ladies make knitted items for babies in hospitals, they collect goodies for and stuff Christmas boxes every year, many of them travel to another city and state to fill them in the distribution center for Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's purse, they collect food and go to a local inner city school during the summer months to feed the teams of people who travel there for mission work within those impoverished communities, they are passionate about spreading the love and good news of Jesus. 

Basically, I want to be just like them when I grow up. 

I love something that their fearless leader, Mrs. Betty said: you don't have to go far outside of your community to do mission work. I wholeheartedly agree! Often times, our own next door neighbors are great opportunities...as are the people we come into contact with on a daily basis. Sometimes living life on mission actually means what it sounds like. I was having lunch with friends one time, when one of them stopped our waitress and told her we were about to pray and how we would love to pray for her as well. The young lady got so emotional over this and she shared with us a way we could pray for her right then. I loved witnessing that and thought it was such a simple and heartfelt way we can love on others.

Sometimes life on mission means offering a smile and a word of encouragement. There's a young man in my grocery store named Jonathan who is special needs and who is always stocking produce when I visit. I always stop and greet him by name and we talk. Sometimes he complains to me and I just listen sympathetically and sometimes I offer to pray for him. There's another man who works there who is also special needs who always wants to tell me something exciting. I love how simple it is to bring a smile to someone's face. You never know what people go through!

Sometimes life on mission means doing a good deed, or doing the right thing even when nobody is watching. I recently read an idea that someone shared on social media about ways to "pay it forward" other than buying someone's coffee at the drive-through: it was calling the local elementary school and paying off delinquent accounts of all the students you can afford in the lunchroom. I love that idea, especially because that's what I used to do. I was the lunch lady who walked around to help the students while they ate lunch. 

Life is hard and we all need encouragement from time to time. Remember the year of lockdown and how lonely all of us were? I will never forget how isolated I felt. Ever since then, we've had more of an opportunity than ever before to share the love of Jesus with others. The world is a mean place right now and often, the events that take place on a daily basis are overwhelming. I don't know the statistics of this, but anxiety and depression are diseases that are at an all time high right now. Almost every time I am in a conversation with someone, anxiety is something that is mentioned. There is no shame in asking for help and for talking to others about the hard things we go through. I am one who will quickly share when I am in need of prayer. I take very seriously James 5:16—

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is righteous in its effect. 

These are just a few thoughts I had after last night and how I felt after being encouraged. So tell me: are you one who looks for opportunities to minister to or encourage others? I would love to hear how you do this on a daily basis. I don't do this every single time I'm out, so don't think I'm some saint. I assure you, I am not! I was aggravated over someone who cut in front of me in a line at the pharmacy last night, so trust me, I have my moments. How do you do this? Have you ever been on the receiving end of such a thing? I would be willing to bet that we've all had someone that extended some kindness to us that stands out. I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all.